Seattle Car Accident Lawyer Blog

The Washington State Patrol, in a media release, are looking for witnesses of two separate trucking accidents involving commercial trucks and passenger cars. Both motor vehicle accidents occurred in Snohomish County and caused serious injuries.

• February 4th Accident: This accident occurred around 9:55pm on Thursday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5. Two semi trucks and two passenger vehicles were involved and one of the semi truck drivers was seriously injured and taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
• February 8th Accident: This accident occurred on eastbound SR 522, east of SR 9. Apparently a dump truck ran into a passenger vehicle that was stopped in the slow vehicle lane. All three people in the passenger vehicle were seriously injured and were taken to Harborview Medical Center.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who are seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A trucker who crashed his tractor-trailer rig while driving southbound on Interstate 5 in Oregon says he had choked on a piece of chicken which caused him to pass out and lose control of his big rig.

According to a report on KOMO News.com, 45-year-old Andrew Quintero was not injured in the trucking accident. However, the overturned big right blocked northbound traffic for several hours.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A driver that swerved to avoid a lost load -- a tarp -- on Interstate 90 lost control of their vehicle and crashed resulting in serious injuries. The 37-year-old motorist from Snoqualmie was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment reports The Seattle Times.

The single-car accident occurred around 5:50pm in the westbound lanes of I-90 near Preston.

The Washington State Patrol is looking for anyone who may have witnessed the car accident or saw a trap fall off a vehicle, probably a semi truck. They ask that you contact Detective Stacy Moate at 425-401-7746.

Washington State vehicle code, RCW 46.61.655, covers dropping loads or other materials. A person who fails to secure a load can be charged with a gross misdemeanor or criminal negligence.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the family of those killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Washington State Patrol is investigating a semi-truck accident on northbound Interstate 5 in Chehalis, Washington early Friday morning.

According to the WSP media release, Dolores C. Rogriguez, 72 of Arlington, Texas, had stopped his semi-truck rig on the right shoulder of I-5 with his four-way flashers on when his truck was hit by a semi-truck driven by Charles W. Church, age 56 of Wenatchee. The impact of the truck collision caused Rogriguez's truck to roll.

Rogriguez was airlifted to St. Joseph hospital in Vancouver with injuries to his hip and back.

Church was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with internal injuries.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and the families of those killed.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A suspected drunk driver, Ivan R. Allen of Soda Springs Idaho, is accused of causing a car accident which seriously injured an Auburn man around 3:16 am this morning on SR-18 near Peasley Canyon in Auburn.

According to a Washington State Patrol media release, Allen, age 25, was witnessed driving his Toyota Tacoma erratically on the northbound I-5 near Federal Way. One witness followed Allen when he exited, went onto Weyerhaeuser Way and then drove eastbound on the westbound lane of SR-18. Allen traveled approximately 1-1/2 miles in the wrong direction before he collided with a Subaru driven by a 42-year-old Auburn man.

The Auburn man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious injuries. Allen was also taken to Harborview but his injuries did not appear as serious. Both vehicles were totaled in the crash.

Vehicular Assault, RCW 46.61.522, can be charged if a person is seriously injured in a car accident and a driver was under the influence.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents caused by drunk drivers. With our help, you may recover compensation for your injuries, including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) testified before a US House subcommittee on November 4th regarding distracted driving and cell phone. In the IIHS testimony, data was provided that shows that cell phone usage by drivers puts the driver at increased risk for a car accident and impaired driving performance. The IIHS testified that different studies reach different conclusions about what the actual statistics are, but a recent study that was "well-controlled" and had a "large number of crash-involved drivers" found that that the risk of an accident was four times higher when the driver was talking on either a hand-held or hands-free cell phone.

The IIHS reports that their data shows that the fact of using a cell phone, regardless of whether it is hands-free or hand-held, poses the same accident risk.

See the IIHS web-site for a full text of testimony, Driven to Distraction: Technological Devices and Vehicle Safety.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents and the family of those killed. If you believe your car accident was caused by someone using a cellphone, read, "What if my accident was caused by someone using a cell phone?"

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A suspected drunk driver rear-ended a semi-truck at the Federal Way weigh station off of Interstate 5 reports Seattle's KOMO News.com.

According to the report, the driver of a black Mercedes was driving at speeds of around 70mph right before rear-ending the semi truck.

The driver of the Mercedes was taken to a local hospital for treatment of head-injuries. He will be cited for driving under the influence. In Washington state, DUI offenses are gross misdemeanors. The standard of intoxication is 0.08%. Drunk drivers can lose their licenses.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Zillah man, Kenneth W. Maden, age 58, was killed when the pickup truck he was a passenger in went off the road and hit a tree early Sunday morning reports The Yakima Herald. The truck accident occurred around 2am last Sunday morning in the Sudden Valley community, east of Bellingham.

The driver of the truck, Robert A. Milan, age 41,and three other passengers were injured and taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham.

Milan may be charged with Vehicular Homicide according to the report. Vehicular Homicide can be charged if a person dies in a motor vehicle accident and the driver was under the influence of alcohol at the time. In Washington state, the legal limit for alcohol is 0.08%.

The Washington State Patrol believes that the accident was alcohol-related and also noted that no one in the pickup truck, a 2005 Dodge Ram, was wearing a seatbelt.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent motor vehicle accident victims and their family.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A 15-year-old girl, Alyssa V. Fell of Ferndale, was killed in a car accident around 11pm on Wednesday night when the car she was riding in ran a stop sign at the intersection of Farm to Market Road in Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon is a city approximately 33 miles north of Everett via Interstate 5.

According to a report by KOMO News, the girl was in a Volvo driven by an 18-year-old man. The Volvo collided with a Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by a 56-year-old man.

The driver of the Ford was seriously injured and was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The driver of the Volvo and another 15-year-old passenger were taken to Skagit Valley Hospital for treatment of their injuries.

Police do not believe alcohol or drugs were factors in the car accident.

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a personal injury attorney firm that represents car accident victims and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Washington State Patrol is targeting drivers who drive unsafely around large commercial vehicles. Between 2005 and 2007, there were 5000 commercial truck accidents in Washington State. In analyzing the statistics, they show that the driver of the car was at-fault in two thirds of the accidents which resulted in 175 fatalities and 450 injuries. The Washington State Patrol is trying to enforce behavior changes among drivers including leaving more room for trucks, avoiding tailgating, reducing speeding around trucks and reducing aggressive driving.

During a two week period in Spokane and Grays Counties, State Patrol troopers are going to ride in the cabs of commercial trucks to help spot cars who follow too closely or cut the big trucks off reports Seattle's King 5.com.Chief John R. Batiste of the Washington State Patrol says:

“Motorists who drive recklessly, or are unsafe around these big rigs, are asking for trouble. When a car and a commercial vehicle are involved in a collision, the car will lose.”

This information is provided by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured ant the families of those killed in motor vehicle accidents. We have more than 30 years experience helping accident victims and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that a 50-year-old man was killed in a car and truck accident on State Route 99 -- Pacific Highway South -- in Federal Way, Washington on Tuesday night.

The motor vehicle accident happened around 8pm.. The man who was killed was turning onto Pacific Highway South from 374th in a Toyota MR2 when he collided with a pick up truck; the driver of the pick up was not injured.

This information was brought to you by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured and the families of those killed in car accidents, truck accidents, bus accidents, motorcycle accidents and pedestrian accidents. With our help you may be able to recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group today for a free case evaluation.

I recently reviewed a report entitled Driver Distraction: A Review of the Current State-of-Knowledge published in April by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This report looked at many studies having to do with Driver Distraction. With cell phones becoming so ubiquitous I was interested in how they affect driving performance. In fact a blog we posted yesterday about a bicyclist who suffered a serious spinal cord injury was caused by driver distraction.

The report cited studies that found that approximately 10.5 % of car accidents which were serious enough so that at least one car had to be towed away from the scene was due to a distracted driver. Another study found that distraction was a major factor in 33% of the crashes and 27% of near crashes.

What is Driver Distraction?

Driver distraction can be caused by every day activities including eating, smoking, changing radio stations, setting a GPS device and the usage of cell phones and text messaging.

Studies have broken distractions into several categories.

Inside the car distractions:

• Purposeful -- for example changing a radio station
• Incidental -- answering a phone or eating
• Uncontrolled -- examples are being distracted by a child, pet, sneezing or coughing.

People are often in the habit of performing purposeful secondary tasks and some might even be beneficial to help break boredom and to counteract fatigue.

External distractions:

• Animals running in front of a vehicle
• Weather conditions like a blinding sun
• Oncoming headlights
• Sirens
• Advertising

Several laws have been enacted to prohibit text messaging while driving and to prohibit talking on the cell phone without a hands-free device while driving. Remember, though, it's not just cell phones that can cause you to be distracted.

This information was brought to you by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer Blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured, or the families of those killed, in motor vehicle accidents due to the negligence of another person. We have more than 30 years experience in Bellevue, Washington. With our help, you may receive compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group today for a free case evaluation.

Read also, What if my accident was caused by someone using a cell phone?

Car and truck accident attorneys spend a lot of time talking to people who've been in accidents. We see how accidents affect lives and how they have cause permanent physical and emotional scars.

Personal injury attorneys tend to look at reports and literature that try to figure out why accidents occur and how cars and trucks can be made safer to reduce the number of accidents. I was looking at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and saw an interesting report about car and truck accidents. While the report is a few years old, I suspect that it is as valid today as it was prepared by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. It's a lengthy report so let me share with you some of the highlights I gleaned from it.

Car & Truck Accident Statistics

In a given year, more than 5,000 people are killed and 140,000 injured in crashes involving trucks that weigh more than 10,000 pounds. In those accidents, 98% of the fatalities involving a car and a large truck were to the occupants of the car.

In reading the report, the most significant thing that I learned is that drivers of cars need to learn how to drive around large trucks. Maneuvers performed by a car near a large truck carry a higher crash risk than the same maneuver around another car. Since actions of car drivers contribute more to Car & Truck accidents, car drivers need to be educated about safe lane changes around trucks, following distances and fields of vision.

There are four driver factors which are more likely in Car & Truck crashes than in Car & Car crashes. These are:

• Driving while sleepy, fatigued or drowsy
  
• Following too closely
  
• Driving while vision is obscured by snow, rain, fog, smoke, sand, dust
  
• Making improper or erratic lane changes.

If you want to learn more, you might want to read the complete report prepared for AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Identifying Unsafe Driver Actions that Lead to Fatal Car-Truck Crashes.

Safety Tips for driving near Trucks

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's web-site also has some tips for motorists when driving around trucks:

• Don't cut in front of a truck because trucks take a longer distance to stop. When passing, make sure you see the front of the truck in your rear view mirror before you move in and don't put on your brakes.
  
• Use your seat belt. Enough said.
  
• Watch for blind spots -- Large trucks have blind spots around the front, back and sides of the truck. They can't see you! Rule of thumb, if you can't see the driver of the truck in the driver's side mirror, then they can't see you.
  
• Pay attention to driving conditions, truck brake lights and signals.
  
• Don't be an aggressive driver - speeding, running red lights and stop signs, making frequent lane changes, and pulling too quickly in front of a truck when passing are all aggressive driving maneuvers and they can cause an accident.
  
• Be aware that trucks make wide right turns. Don't get in-between a truck and the curb.
  
• Don't drink and drive so you can react quickly to situations and use correct judgment.

This information was brought to you by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. Car and truck accident attorneys located in Bellevue, contact us if or a loved one has been seriously injured, or a loved one killed because of a car or truck accident. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group today for a free case consultation.

Two Women from Grandview, Washington were injured in a car accident on Monday when the car they were driving in was hit by a semi-truck and trailer that was making an illegal U-turn on Interstate 82.

According to a press release issued by the Washington State Patrol, Mary Galaviz, 77, and Dolores Smasne, 58 both suffered injuries and were taken to Sunnyside Community Hospital. Smasne, whose injuries were more severe, was then transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Galaviz was treated for her injuries and released from the hospital.

The automobile accident occurred just two miles west of Sunnyside around midnight on Monday night reports the Yakima Herald.com. The driver of the semi truck, Roperto Gomez, 39, of Alliance, Nebraska was using a Department of Transportation crossing to make the illegal U-turn. Gomez was not injured.

This information was brought to you by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in car accidents. With our help, you may recover compensation for your injuries including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group today for a free case evaluation.

A new report from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries entitled Preventing Injuries in the Trucking Industry provides insight and statistics on accidents and injuries in the trucking industry.

According to the report, injuries and fatalities in the trucking industry are more than all other industries combined. The four most common and costly injuries include:

• Upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders
• Falls
• Motor vehicle collisions
• Struck by or against an object

During the period of the report, from 1998-2005, there were 63 trucking fatalities in Washington State, accounting for 10% of work-related fatalities in Washington State. Nearly 80% of the fatalities were in the "general freight" category. Causes of the fatalities included highway accidents, being hit by another truck and tripping on a trailer hitch and falling against concrete.

Trucking is an absolutely vital industry and injuries to truck drivers account for 21,000 lost work time claims in the period of the report and almost 38,000 medical only claims.

SHARP -- Safety & Health Assessment & Research for Prevention -- is looking for ways that accidents and injuries can be prevented. These include:

• Insuring all equipment is in proper working order and new vehicles designed for worker safety.
  
• Insuring that vehicles are designed so that employees can climb in and out safely.
  
• Replacing straps before they break -- making sure loads are secure
  
• Providing ladders and stairs to cabs and trailers
  
• Requiring proper footwear
  
• Training employees on using equipment and proper securing methods for loads
  
• Training drivers in defensive driving

This information was brought to you by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a trucking or construction accident, you should contact a law firm that has experience in representing trucking accident victims and their families to insure your rights are protected. The Farber Law Group has more than 30 years experience in Western Washington including Everett, Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Bellingham, Tukwila and Kent. We also partner with other attorneys throughout the Northwest including Alaska, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho.

Contact us today for a free case evaluation. With our help, you may recover compensation for your injuries, including pain and suffering and lost wages.

The Farber Law Group, located in Bellevue, Washington represents people who have been seriously hurt in motor vehicle accidents including car accidents, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, single or multiple truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, boating accidents and bicycle accidents throughout Western Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

People are often seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents and their injuries can include traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury and whiplash, broken limbs, severe lacerations and internal injuries.

In Washington State, there were 568 fatal car accidents in 2007. Mr. Farber is experienced in representing the families who have lost a loved one in a motor vehicle accident through the negligence of another person. While no amount money can compensate for the loss of a loved one, a successful wrongful death claim may help a family through a very difficult time, especially when they have lost the major wage earner.

With more than 30 years experience in Western Washington and throughout the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Farber represents cases in Bellevue, Kirkland, Seattle, Renton, Auburn, Spokane, Bothell, Federal Way, Tacoma, Arlington, Marysville, Puyallup, Tacoma and Bellingham. For out-of-state cases, Mr. Farber works with partner attorneys.

Contact The Farber Law Group for a free case evaluation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has just released a statistical summary of traffic safety for the year 2007. According to the report, more than 41,000 Americans were killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2007 and more than 2.49 million people were injured.

The good news is that the number of fatal motor vehicle accidents has decreased by 10% in Washington State where there were 568 fatal motor vehicle accidents in 2007 compared with 633 accidents in 2006.

The bad news is that the number of motorcycle accident fatalities continues to rise. Motorcycle accident fatalities across the States account for 13% of the total fatalities and went up 17% over all.

Fatalities caused by a drunk driver decreased by 3.7% with 13,000 deaths attributed to someone driving under the influence.

The report notes that, in the United States, there were 4,654 pedestrians killed in 2007 and 698 bicyclists were killed.

Trucking accident fatalities remained about the same from the previous year.

Traffic injuries and death may be down because Americans are driving less with gas prices being so high. The concern is that, as more people ride bicycles and motorcycles to avoid high gas prices, accidents and fatalities in this group may continue to rise.

This information was brought to you by Seattle Car Accident Lawyer Blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent the victims of car, motorcycle, pedestrian and bicycle accidents. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or a loved one has been killed in an accident due to the negligence of another person, you should contact a personal injury attorney to insure your rights are preserved. With our help, you may be able to recover compensation for your injuries including pain and suffering.

Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

The HeraldNet.com reports that six people were injured in a car accident after the SUV they were riding in swerved and rolled over into a ditch to avoid a load of logs that a logging truck had dropped. All six were taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The accident occurred just east of Marysville on Getchell Road near the 99th Avenue NE intersection said Washington State Trooper, Keith Leary. The log truck appeared to break apart, spilling its load. This is the second logging truck accident in the past week in Snohomish County. In that accident, a truck spilled its logs on Highway 530 but no one was injured.

This information was brought to you by Washington Injury Attorney, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people that have been seriously injured due to the negligence of others. Our personal injury attorneys work to ensure that you are fairly compensated for your medical costs, loss of wages and pain and suffering.

Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that a tow truck driver was killed by a flatbed truck when it rolled over him when he was preparing it to be towed in the 4400 block of 26th Avenue West of Magnolia. The King County Medical Examiner's Office identified the driver as Shawn Cary McKinney age 44.

Seattle Police Department spokesman Mark Jamieson says that Lincoln Towing, McKinney's employer, had been contracted to tow the truck because of a car theft investigation. McKinney had called his dispatch asking that a larger truck be sent out to tow the flatbed truck. The second tow truck driver discovered McKinney crushed to death.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

This information was brought to you by the Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who are seriously injured or killed as a result of construction or workplace accidents. Contact us today for a free case consultation.